After hosting a hugely successful family fun day recently, Carrick-based engineering firm Ryobi are celebrating raising over £10,000 to support the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.
A variety of activities were available on the day for both children and adults, including a bouncy castle, face painting, a raffle and many more fun-filled options.
The event raised a grand total of £7,938 for the charity, an amount that is sure to go a long way and be greatly appreciated.
This huge amount is less than half of what Ryobi have donated to the NI Children’s Hospice, having already donated £7,000 to sponsor one of the elephants included in the Big Elmer Trail that took place across Belfast this summer.
Speaking on the fundraiser, Rachel Beattie, from the CSR team at Ryobi, expressed her joy at the opportunity to be involved with both the Elmer Trail and the family fun day.
She said: “Ryobi sponsored one of the elephants at a cost of £7,000.
“A couple of us within the CSR team then created a small subdivision team to try and fundraise more money on top of that for the hospice.
“I organised this fun day because we wanted to reach out to the local community and help other businesses in the process.”
As well as the fun day and Big Elmer Trail Ryobi staff also organised a charity at Carrickfergus Golf Club recently where they raised £2,500 for the Hospice.
Ciarán Maxwell, who organised the golf day said: “The typical NI September downpour didn’t dampen the spirits on the Charity Golf day – a fantastic effort from all the players to brave the conditions and finish the round, and a massive thank you to all hole sponsors and players who helped raise £2,500 for Northern Ireland Hospice.”
All the proceeds raised will provide crucial funding towards the NI Children’s Hospice, enabling them to continue their services within the community helping young children in need.
The Hospice is currently self-funded, making fundraisers such as these even more critical as it ensures further care can be given.
Rachel said: “We know that the Hospice is completely self-funded, they don’t get any government funding.
“It costs £700 for one day of palliative care for a child in their home. None of us know when we will need that. That’s why it’s so important.”
Marco Emig, managing director of Ryobi, was at the fundraising event, and was delighted by the outcome and support it received.
He said: “I’m actually amazed by the turnout of how many people actually came to support us here today.
“Around a year ago we set up the corporate social responsibility team, and the idea for the family fun day and the charity golf day events came from that team.”
Marco also addressed how the community rallied around the cause, with individuals from across Carrick and beyond attending and donating to the Children’s Hospice.
He said: “We’ve been in Carrickfergus for more than 30 years, and it’s time to start giving back to the community.
“It’s really good to see Ryobi employees and their families here, as well as a lot of people here who are not our employees, which I think is really important.”
Gwyneth Evans, HR Manager, also expressed her delight at the sense of community seen on the day.
She said: “We have been supporting the Northern Ireland Hospice throughout the year with various fundraising activities.
“We wanted to take this opportunity to bring all of our employees and their families together so that they could spend time in a social setting.
“And also, we wanted to outreach to the local community, so we made the family fun day open to the public too.”
Ryobi did a fantastic job at raising vital funds for the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice and hopefully this will be an annual staple within Carrick for years to come.
For more information on how you can join the Ryobi team go to https://ryobi.getgotjobs.co.uk/home
Issued by Excalibur Press on behalf of Ryobi
For more information, please contact Tina Calder, Excalibur Press, 07305354209, [email protected],
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